Posts tagged: predictions

So last round’s predictions did not work for me at ALL. I got both winners wrong. Luckily, I still have the Boston Bruins as a team I can stand to win some moola on from some bets I made on Bodog before the playoffs start. If the B’s win it all, I’ll double the money I spent on all my bets combined. Not spectacular, but I’m ahead, and that’s what matters!

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Oilers

So, to start.. yesterday MacTavish inked big Russian D-man Anton Belov to a 1-year deal (reportedly a cap hit of $1.525M with bonuses). This supposedly was the best we could do as far as length, on an entry level deal… and once it expires, he should be an unrestricted free agent. It’s a fairly low risk move. The Oilers have full expectations this guy can jump into the lineup next year. He sounds fairly raw in his defensive game, which may be a concern. But it sounds like he’s a good puck carrier, and fairly physical. In the KHL this year, he had 9 goals and 17 assists in 46 games for Omsk. He also played in the World Hockey Championships and is being considered for the Russian Olympic team. He also was 3rd on his team with a +19 plus minus rating. He is 6’4″, 216 lbs, according to Elite Prospects. The scouting report on him had this to say:

A large defenseman, Belov is still an excellent skater. He can control the offensive game with his passing skills and hard shot. Could improve his defensive game.

Oilers sign Omsk KHL defender Anton Belov

Seems alright.

The Oilers are also in the mix for a goaltending phenom out of Finland, Antti Raanta. Raanta played 45 games this year for Assat Pori in which he put up a 21-10-11 record, with a remarkable, league leading GAA of 1.85 and SV% of 0.943. He tweeted just a short bit ago that he’s made his decision. Edmonton, Minnesota and another team were said to be in the mix.. and Michael Russo, beat writer for the Wild, feels that the Wild are out of consideration now. Come on Edmonton!

On to the playoff predictions…

Playoff Predictions

Round 2 saw Racki getting 4 out of 4 series winners correctly ( 11 for 12, bitches!), Steve-O, Hemmerlady and Metal&Oil each got 3 out of 4 winners correct, and Trogdor fumbled blindly for 2 out of 4 correct. Series lengths, different story. If I wasn’t so lazy, I’d count how many wins each player was off by. Maybe next year… that’s my Steve Tambellini motto.

To sum:
Racki got 7 of the 8 series winners correct, matching 2 of the game lengths of those winners.
Steve-O got 5 of the 8 series winners correct, matching 2 of the game lengths of those winners.
Trogdor got 5 of the 8 series winners correct, matching 1 of the game lengths of those winners.

Big winner.. RACKIIIIII!

On to round two.. here are the match ups:

Hawks vs Wings
Kings vs Sharks
Pens vs Sens
Bruins vs Rangers

Submit your predictions in the comments! And if you predicted in round 1, mention how you did too for round 1.

In other news… how is Leaf Nation doing? That was a monumental loss. I can speak from experience in saying that it’s much easier to be blown out in a series/game than it is to have a win firmly in your grasp and completely blow it. I tend to smile whenever the Leafs suffer, but I think when you’ve suffered for 50 some years, it’s hard not to feel a little sorry, now and then.

Craig MacTavish season wrap up

So let’s start with a summary of MacTavish’s season wrap up…

– Overall team strength and depth and competitiveness needs improvement.
– Says these will be addressed, through a large degree, through personnel changes (i.e. waiting for the current guys to get bigger, or stronger isn’t going to help)
– Needs core guys to be better defensively and without the puck. Need structure in their game to have success.
– They need to add some specific role players that have a threat to score, even marginally. He says their current role guys, the best they were ever going to be on a given night was a “non factor”. Not a lot of upside in their current group.
– Says the few times that the role guys had an impact, they ended up winning games.
– Defense needs more foot speed to play a style that best suits the skill set this team has. The defensemen have to be able to Continue reading 'Craig MacTavish season wrap up, plus our playoff predictions, and more'»

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OK, so first off, here is our 2010/11 regular season prediction post (along with award winners, which we’ll check back on later). Looks like we faired pretty horribly on the Oilers guesses as well as the West Conference guesses. However, we did a pretty good job on the East Conference (yayyyy?)! Again, we are Notstradamus.

Here are Steve-O’s and my predictions (Trogdor is away in some foreign country right now… hopefully still alive) for the first round of the playoffs. Feel free to add your own guesses below. As usual, winner gets bragging rights, since we’re too lame to offer real prizes (but this might be a good moment to remind you that we make commission off of purchases from the NHL Shop link!).

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